I discovered the hard way that Facebook status updates are limited to 420 characters. This is somewhat less bad than Twitter’s 140 characters, but it only tells you after you’ve written it all and hit submit. And, with the cranky mood I was in, I said “fuck it.” Nevermind all the privacy issues, or the issues of centralization in general. It’s that kind of stuff that pisses me off first. So, I’m blogging more instead.

Anyway, yesterday, within a day of getting a ScanGauge II, I discovered why my car (a ’98 Accord) idles roughly sometimes when it’s half warmed up. I hooked it up and set it to display the most “interesting” sensor readings (manifold absolute pressure, intake air temperature, and water [coolant] temperature.) The next morning, I noticed that when it was misbehaving, it thought the coolant temperature was below 32F. Unlikely for an engine that’s been running 4 minutes! With any luck, I can get this out by just partially draining out the coolant and removing the sensor with a socket on an extension that lets me clear the distributor (which is very nearby.)

Tien got me a deep fryer for my birthday. I’d been wanting one for a long time but not sure if I really wanted to buy one. So, today I bought enough palm oil shortening (non-hydrogenated) and a couple sweet potatoes and made sweet potato fries. That was my first experience using a deep fryer and it worked out great. Tien also got me The Best Fryer Cookbook Ever. It is indeed a nice overview of things you can do with a deep fryer.